The Freak's Rating: A : Martin Scorsese is one of my favorite directors, ever. He has made masterpieces in his lifetime that are already being stowed away in the National Film Archives to prosperity. His hand is at work in an amazing way with Shutter Island.
Leonardo DiCaprio has spent the last twenty years attempting to crawl out from under the "little boy" moniker he was hit with when he filmed such dramas as What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The Basketball Diaries. Even his run on Growing Pains made him a child in America's eyes. Until his role as Teddy in Shutter Island, I thought he'd never shake it. Now, I don't believe I'll see him as a child again. He is masterful here, his best role to date, and should easily garner Oscar buzz come next year. Scorsese always has his hand in casting and along with the casting director the team did a wonderful job. Ben Kingsley is haunting as the warden, Mark Ruffalo is perfect as the sidekick and all other supporting roles fill the holes beautifully. The acting is flawless throughout.
Oh, but the acting isn't even the spectacle to behold here. The script for Shutter Island, based on the book of the same name, is nicely teleported from the literature, with only a few flaws that cause plotline hiccups, none too big to hurt the film. There are few flaws here, but with twists and turns throughout, I feel I can't explain much of what I loved so much without giving away anything.
Few storytellers exist on our planet with the same abilities as Scorsese. Take advantage of it and seek out this film. The story is woven so nicely, with such an amazing artistic hand at creating the suspense that I honestly cannot wait to see this film again.
Angie's Rating: B : I am rating this as a B. I will never be able to rate this as an A. Here's why: the first time watching is your only chance to gain the full effect of this film. There is such a heavy reliance of drawing the viewer in and suprising them with clever twists and turns, that if anything ruins the mood or distracts you from being absorbed into the film, it has lost it's magic.
I saw this in theaters with a couple of friends, and I am VERY sorry to say that one of them ruined the mood for everyone. He fell asleep and was snoring so loudly that everyone within a couple rows were turning around to stare.... yeah, kinda funny, but it totally killed this movie for me. I don't know if it's fair of me to rate this film lower because of a bad experience, but I have no strong desire to sit through it again when I already know what is going to happen, hence the B. :(
I would caution you to see this film at a time when you can pay full attention to it. Do whatever you have to do: get the kids to bed, silence your phone, hide from your neighbors, become a hermit :)... I think this film deserves better than some old guy snoring through it.
